Active Landscape Photography: Methods for Investigation

How can photography be transformed into an active process of investigation for landscape architecture and environmental design? The second book in Godfrey’s series, Active Landscape Photography, presents engaged photographic methods that turn photography into a rigorous, thoughtful endeavor for the research, planning and design of landscape places. Photography is the most ubiquitous and important form of representation in these disciplines. Yet photography is not specifically taught as a core skill within these fields. This book creates a starting point for filling this gap. Concepts and working methods from contemporary photography and critical cultural theories are contextualized into situations encountered in the daily practice of landscape architecture and environmental design. These methods can be integrated into practices in academic and professional settings or picked up and self-taught by an individual reader. Part I: Methods presents easily accessible approaches to photography, creating a core set of active skills. Part II: Practices discusses working methods of specific contemporary photographers and extrapolates their practices into common planning and design situations. Contemporary photographers presented include Richard Misrach, Dawoud Bey, Duane Michals, Latoya Ruby Frazier, Mark Klett, Sophie Calle, Joe Deal, Robert Adams, Naima Green, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Stephen Shore, David Hockney, Amy Sherald, William Christenberry, Jeff Wall, and Sohei Nishino. Beautifully illustrated in full color with over 150 images by Godfrey, her students and contemporary photographers, this book provides both clear guidelines for a set of diverse methods and a deeper discussion about the implications of making and using photography in environmental design for professionals, academics, students and researchers.